"We are working with them for dates in July and early August as well, when we hope we'll be back", Hearn told Sky Sports.

"Hopefully we see that fight take place at the end of the summer", he added.

Pulev is the mandatory challenger to Joshua's IBF title, with the English heavyweight also holding the WBA 'super' and WBO titles.

It's the second time a fight between the pair has been re-arranged.

Joshua was due to face the Bulgarian at Cardiff's Principality Stadium in October of 2017, but Pulev suffered a shoulder injury in training and was replaced by Carlos Takam.

The chopping and changing of the calendar as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic may have the knock-on effect of setting up the long-awaited meeting of Joshua and Tyson Fury.

Earlier this week, Hearn told Sky Sports, "The one positive that could come out of this for boxing is you might find people jumping into bigger fights sooner, rather than later, because of course, their activity has been slowed.

"Their financial gain has been slowed as well, and it probably makes them realise anything can happen - 'we need to make sure we get this fight in and I need to define my legacy.'"

The Matchroom supremo hopes Joshua Pulev can be done by late-July, "But if it starts kicking on beyond that, then you get to a situation where if Joshua is only going to box once this year, he would very much like that to be against Tyson Fury.

"The situation is a little bit out of our hands in that, if Bob Arum and Al Haymon can talk and make Deontay Wilder wait a little bit, we would absolutely love to go into that fight next."

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